7 Steps to Creating A Great Linkedin Profile

by Alan Underkofler on March 5, 2010

Linkedin gives you the ability to control your online identity. Have you Googled yourself lately? What comes up for you? It is all positive? Maybe a few negatives? Or worse does nothing come up at all? Linkedin profiles quickly rise to the top of search results letting you control what people see about you and your company online. Let me say this in another way… You are in complete control of what people see about you on your Linkedin profile therefore you are in complete control on what people read about you online! You must take advantage and leverage this!

Here are 7 steps to creating a great Linkedin profile:

Start by gathering your materials. Pull out your resume, your bio, and your marketing materials to help you with your profile. It’s important not to just cut and paste but let these materials guide you in your profile setup.

Who are the top people in your company or industry? Take a moment to find them on Linkedin and “borrow” elements of their profile or look for things you might have missed.

Make sure to use keywords within your profile. If you are a marketing consultant in the niche market of tradeshows make sure to use marketing and tradeshows multiple times within your profile. This will help potential customers find you within Linkedin.

Take the time to complete your profile! Linkedin has a profile completion percentage when you log in. Completing your profile is essential in attracting business from Linkedin. Don’t underestimate the value of adding your picture. People want to do business with people they know like and trust and adding your picture is an essential part in this.

Creating your Linkedin URL – Linkedin will assign you a random url. You want to change it so it has your full name in the profile if possible and make sure to remove any non needed numbers. You can easily do this by just clicking edit by the assigned link. When you are finished your profile link should look like this: http://www.linkedin.com/in/alanunderkofler

Paid vs. Free Linkedin Accounts? I am always asked should I pay for a premium Linkedin account? For the most part the answer is no. The main reason to have a paid account is it allows you to view more people in your searches and send more messages within the Linkedin system to people you are not connected to. If you are a recruiter the expanded search capabilities could be huge for you but for most companies the free account works great! There are a few other options you receive with the paid version so you should take a look at the added benefits and make a decision based on your Linkedin strategy.

Remember your Linkedin profile is often the first impression someone has of you and what you do. Make sure this impression counts and correctly represents you and what you do.

Once you have your profile updated make you to send Alan Underkofler and Angie A. Swartz a connecting request. We would love to connect with you on Linkedin. Join our conversation on Linkedin! Leave a comment with your Linkedin profile thoughts and make sure to leave your Linkedin profile url in your comment so other readers can connect with you!

Keeping your profile open allows people to see who you are connected to. These connections help build your creditability and also can be the starting point of a conversation. It reminds me of the “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine” theory. If you are the conduit between two of your connections you have just helped two people in your network. The more you do this the more it will happen for you! But it all starts with having your connections open for others to see!

One of the key LinkedIn services to monitor is the weekly email that lists your network updates. Take a moment to review, as you’ll find out what people are doing, who has updated their profile and what groups they’ve joined. You might even see what books they’re reading and where they have been traveling. Excellent way to stay informed!
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